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31 Selex ES Falco UAV | Dossier experience. Software development has been ongoing: functionality has been increased and there has been further development of the data link. New payloads have also been integrated to meet new customer requirements. In August 2009 a catapult launch option, the Robonic MC2555LLR pneumatic launcher, was added. This creates an acceleration of 10 g , and is thought to be the first time a UAV of this weight has been successfully launched in this way. Having built a strong relationship with the Italian armed forces, there was disappointment at Selex ES that the nation’s military overlooked the Falco in favour of a smaller UAV system. However, it initially went into service in an Asian country, where it proved rugged and reliable. Other customers followed, making the project a commercial success. These days the Falco is in service with five customers across the Middle East, central East Asia and Africa, and has proven itself across a wide range of demanding environments, from monsoon to desert. Exact flying hours are undisclosed because of customer confidentiality; it is understood though that it has clocked up more than 10,000. Selex ES also offers a service whereby it will operate the Falco on behalf of a client on a pay-per-byte-captured basis. This resulted in a three-year contract for the Falco to provide information gathering and surveillance capabilities on behalf of the UN’s MONUSCO peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This role began in December 2013. The DRC is a particularly demanding environment thanks to high temperatures and humidity, and frequent heavy rain. It is also necessary to fly close to towns. For this programme, Selex ES developed functionality to extend the line-of-sight operational range by using one Falco as a relay to transfer the data link to another, operating further away or in mountainous terrain. In May 2014 a Falco on this mission picked up images of people in danger after a boat capsized in Lake Kivu near the city of Goma. Thanks to the alert, UN peacekeepers were able to intervene and 14 people were rescued. The deployment of the Falco was the first time the UN had contracted with a civilian operator to provide UAV technology to aid in its humanitarian mandate; it is now seen as essential by the UN to have a UAV capability. The UN tender that Selex ES won started with no fewer than nine rival UAVs. The success of the Falco in that environment proves it is very exploitable and very robust. Unmanned Systems Technology | Dec 2015/Jan 2016 The Falco runs on gasoline and heavy fuel Simulating the Falco in flight